Sharjah 24 - AFP: Iran's president will host his Russian and Turkish counterparts on Tuesday for talks on the Syrian war in a three-way summit overshadowed by fallout from the Russian campaign in Ukraine.
The summit is the first hosted by Iran's ultra-conservative President Ebrahim Raisi since he took office last year, and the second trip abroad by Russia's Vladimir Putin since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February.
It comes days after US President Joe Biden visited the Middle East for the first time since taking office, with stops in Israel and Saudi Arabia.
But the trilateral summit is ostensibly centred on Syria, as part of the so-called Astana peace process to end more than 11 years of conflict in the Arab country.
All three are involved in Syria, with Iran and Russia supporting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and Turkey backing rebel forces.
The gathering comes after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened late last year to launch a new offensive in northern Syria against Kurdish militants.
Iran has already warned that any Turkish military action in Syria could "destabilise the region".
The summit will also enable Erdogan to hold his first meeting with Putin since Russia entered Ukraine in February.
The Turkish president has for months been offering to meet the Russian leader in a bid to help resolve heightened global tensions since the war began.
"The timing of this summit is not a coincidence," Russian analyst Vladimir Sotnikov told AFP.
"Turkey wants to conduct a 'special operation' in Syria just as Russia is implementing a 'special operation' in Ukraine," he said.
Putin and Erdogan, who arrived in Tehran on Monday, would meet in the Iranian capital on Tuesday to discuss mechanisms to export grain from Ukraine, a Kremlin source said.
For an optimal experience, please
